3-4 months ago, I knew nothing at all about beer, other than I had a strong disliking for Carling, Carlsberg, Stella Artois, and Fosters. Real ales I could get behind every now and then; the likes of Hobgoblin and Black Sheep stood out from the crowd for being a little different, but I'd not tried many, and most were pretty mainstream traditional types that hadn't exactly set my world on fire.
One afternoon I was busily browsing through people's blogs via their Twitter profiles, and stumbled across a random beer blog. Reading through their review of an ale, I was fairly well astonished to see they'd been as creative and descriptive in their analysis of the aromas, flavours and colours their beer exhibited as a genuine wine buff would be over his latest glass of Rioja. Intrigued I dove in to some of the other blogs he was recommending, and quickly started hoovering up information from wherever I could, and at the same time, started to make an admirable dent in the stock list at the shop trying the beers for myself.
I tried a few English ales, nothing terrifically exciting, but all fairly pleasant, and then turned a wary eye to the few Belgian beers we had on the shelves. Cautiously at first, I picked up a couple, holding them at arms length for a careful inspection to find out exactly what on earth I might be dealing with here (I tried some continental beer or other years ago that was utterly revolting and seriously put me off them for a long time, much to my own detriment). They were all genuinely tasty beers, with a complexity of flavours to rival many a decent wine.
I wasn't making any notes on the beers, other than the odd tweet here and there, but I remember being fairly impressed with Duvel from the early crowd (I've since tried Maredsous Blonde and La Chouffe, both of which surpass it in my book) and Bruges Zot. I tried some world lagers and a few other bits and bobs, nothing really catching my eye, but all fairly intriguing for the range of styles and flavours that were out there.
Then a colleague let slip that our wholesale side of the company orders through a beer importer called James Clay. I had a gander around their website, and was quickly drawn to the American Beers section. Having assumed it was all Budweiser and Coors in the States, I was curious to find out what else they did. Several hours later I emerged, a list with a few new beers tentatively scribbled on a scrap of paper, and warily suggested we try stocking some American stuff and see how it went. This was something of a gamble, as I'd never even tried them before, and lets face it, I was mostly stocking them so I could taste them for myself, but I figured we'd sell the odd bottle to curious customers.
So a couple of weeks later, with Anchor Steam and Brooklyn Lager lined up in the World Beers section, I gave them a try myself. From the first sip, I was utterly hooked. Anchor Steam was rich, creamy, honeyed, and oh so delicious. Brooklyn Lager was luscious, smooth, and malty. The flavours were so pronounced and vivid on my palate, the aromas so intriguing and inviting, I couldn't believe I'd neglected beer for so long. These were a world apart from most of the stuff I'd been trying that was English, and were much more approachable and drinkable than some of the heavier Belgian styles. I was absolutely astonished that America was brewing not just good beer, but outstanding beer, beer that put our domestic products to shame by and large.
I quickly started telling every customer who would listen (and most who wouldn't) how amazing these new American beers we had were, and a few got curious and tried them. The response when they did was incredible, they were blown away. When were we getting more? What else was there? When did the Yanks learn to brew beer properly?
I went back to the James Clay list and raided them for whatever I could get my hands on. The collection quickly grew to include a number of beers from Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Maryland, and beyond. Now numbering some 20 or 30, our American Beers section was the talk of the beer room for most customers, and was raising a few eyebrows on Twitter and Facebook to boot, the English stuff sitting largely neglected on the shelves.
Then someone put me on to a youngish upstart brewing outfit in Scotland, going by the name of BrewDog. I took a look at their website, and quickly fell in love with their in-your-face branding and marketing. They had a genuine passion and enthusiasm towards crafting beer that was immediately evident, and were taking a good long hard look at traditional British brewing methods and beers, and sticking two fingers up at the whole trade in general. I scoured Sainsbury's beer shelves and found a bottle of Punk IPA which told me in no uncertain terms on the label that I'd probably not be interested in it, and that if I wanted to go back to mass produced bland and boring beer, could I bloody well shut the door behind me please.
Well being a sucker for reverse pychology I bought an armful, raced home and showed them to my housemates and a couple of friends. We all had a taste and got a kick in the tonsils for our troubles. What the hell was that?! Turns out it's what happens when a brewer amps up the hops in their beer to 11, and we were all glugging it down and looking for more. The crisp, defined grapefruit flavour, the supercharged hops, and all round "screw you" attitude of the beer and its makers was a massive turning point for me in my search for new and interesting drink.
Now I knew Britain could make genuinely innovative, interesting, and most importantly, delicious beers that hadn't already been done to death since forever, I was seriously on the lookout for new stuff, and still am to this day. I'm yet to find a British brewer thats bettered what Brew Dog do in my estimation (but its all down to personal tastes at the end of the day, and everyone always has a soft spot for their first), but some are starting to come close, and others are doing their own interesting things in new directions as well.
They themselves are a spin-off of sorts from another top notch Brewery, Thornbridge, whose beers I'm yet to taste, but I'm promised are fantastic. There's also Hardknott Brewery up in Millom (Cumbria) who are a new and exciting looking outfit, with a whisky stout, barley wine, and an IPA that's a dark amber red, already to their name. Cumbrian Legendary Ales also have the exceptional Croglin Vampire Doppelbock doing the rounds. And I know there's dozens more out there waiting for me to discover them, but it doesn't half seem like a challenge to find them. Perhaps you can help. If you know of an interesting brewery that's making genuinely top notch, unusual beers, that are anything but traditional, point me in their direction, because I want to taste them, and I want to stock them, and I want to tell everyone else about them. Just whatever you do, don't give me a boring, traditional, uninspiring session beer, or a bland, watered down lager.
After reading his post, I wasted no time in tweeting the guy right away to find out how I could get my hands on a bottle to try for myself. As I explained to him at the time, I'm on something of a mission to radically overhaul our beer room at The Wineyard, getting rid of a lot of traditional big name beers and breweries, and bringing in the most diverse, ecclectic, unusual selection of genuinely delicious and surprising beers I can find. I've no particular problem with 'session beer' as such, but it's not for me by and large, and I've noticed a LOT of our customers saying they feel similarly: the traditional styles and regular beers on most bars are pleasant enough, but they've been around for years, decades even. Most guys and gals who like their beer are desperate for something new, interesting and different.
